If Francesca Schiavone's four-hour-plus win over Svetlana Kuznetsova had come in the final, it would be an enduring classic, certain to be replayed on TV during rain delays for years to come.

Alas, it came in the fourth round. Maybe it will stay in tennis' collective memory, but just as likely it won't. There's always another great match, after all. Last summer, American tennis pundits believed the Isner-Mahut clash was the match that saved tennis, or at least the match that rebooted tennis in the mainstream American consciousness. But it didn't. And now that 70-68 final set has been replaced by a mere 16-14 decider, and rightly so. Schiavone-Kuznetsova offered higher-quality tennis, and arguably more passion.

The question that followed this transcedant tennis moment was an obvious one: Could the 30-year-old Schiavone do it again, this time against the younger, quicker World No. 1, Caroline Wozniacki? From the very first game, the Italian proved she was ready to fight on. Indeed, she seemed on the verge of turning into pure energy in a sudden blinding flash. It's so nice to see a WTA player who wants so badly to perform -- and who isn't emotionally overwhelmed by that desire.

Fans could be forgiven for worrying that nerves might spoil this match. The 20-year-old Wozniacki is carrying the unfair, monotonous "best player without a major" label, leading her to try so hard to stay loose that she ended up fantasizing in a press conference about doing battle with a baby kangaroo. Schiavone, meanwhile, has decided she doesn't want to be remembered as a fluke. She's not just the French Open champion, dang it, she's also the number-seven player in the world -- and moving up. She wants respect.

Turns out, there was no need to fret. These two competitors are true professionals, full of heart as well as talent. Neither was going to give this one away. To be sure, there were nervous moments, especially early on for Wozniacki when Schiavone applied her patented full-court press. But the players quickly wore their emotions down to a sharp edge and went after each other with them.

Schiavone's aggression is a thing to behold. Every time she barrels toward the net you want to call out in terror, if not leap onto the court to physically restrain her. She just looks so vulnerable when moving forward. But of course she knows what she's doing. She upset Sam Stosur in last year's French Open final with her controlled missile strikes to the forecourt.

Except Wozniacki isn't Stosur. Once she settled down, nothing could distract the Danish queen from making her stroke. And so Schiavone, looking like a fleeing hospital patient in her flappy, ill-fitting white dress, stayed in the backcourt more than she wanted to, fenced in and frustrated. It's a cliche that Italian women are volcanically unpredictable (see Flavia Pennetta, Schiavone's Fed Cup teammate), but not Schiavone. She's fiery, but in a controlled, mature way. Wozniacki is expert at goading players into self-destructing, but that wasn't going to happen today. Wozniacki was going to have to take the match from her opponent.

And so she did. Wozniacki hit hard and she hit true -- and she hit often. Her game lacks pyrotechnics, that's true. But she produces a heavy ball that thumps into her opponent like a blitzing linebacker. The result, when repeated time and again during a point, is the same as an eye-popping winner, just without the eye pop. At long last a worn-out Schiavone, stylish and smart and fearless to the bitter end, broke down.

Both women should feel that they proved themselves today. Schiavone has lost in the quarterfinals -- 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 -- but she's shown that she's no fluke. She's going to be a real contender at every major this year. And Wozniacki? She looks like she's about to shed the "best player without a major" label. Unless Schiavone keeps coming at her, in her nightmares.